Tire rotation
- Thread starter hrv
- Start date
The manual is your guide.
Not really all the cars I had in the past always showed some type of cross method.. I always did same side front to rear.
Pretty sure my old Jeep 2010 called for an X rotation that included the full sized spare.
Mercedes doesn't want tires switched side to side for some reason. Just front to back, and only if they are the same sizes of course.
Mercedes doesn't want tires switched side to side for some reason. Just front to back, and only if they are the same sizes of course.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
I always keep them on the same side. It’s just what I was taught to do. I was taught after a tire goes one direction for so long you aren’t supposed to switch it because it makes it wear faster and could blow out easier. And I have not seen it cause any issues by simply doing it front to back. I do it on customer cars and our cars and haven’t noticed any abnormal wear and I work on Subaru so all of those are all wheel drive and I do front to back when doing it. The only time I’ll cross it is if the customer requests a cross rotation which is very rarely.
What does Toyota recommend? E-28 BMWs used X rotation mitt spare. The tires "wore" into their corners. They handled and rode better when left alone 
"Same Side Rotation" comes from the earliest days of steel belted radial tires. In those days, rubber to steel adhesion wasn't very good. A separation would sometimes develop on one side of the steel cord. It was postulated that not reversing the rotation of the tire would at least slow the growth of that separation. Personally, I thought this was a bunch of hokem.
Well, things have greatly improved since and there is no reason not to cross rotate. However, the old ways die hard, and there are many people who don't agree. The good news is that the important part of tire rotation is the front to back part, with the "cross" part playing a small role.
Well, things have greatly improved since and there is no reason not to cross rotate. However, the old ways die hard, and there are many people who don't agree. The good news is that the important part of tire rotation is the front to back part, with the "cross" part playing a small role.
Rotation is very dependent on the vehicle and tires being considered.
If FWD it seems mandatory on almost anything but on my 4000 pound rwd sedan it is completely unnecessary unless you are showing off a lot.
If FWD it seems mandatory on almost anything but on my 4000 pound rwd sedan it is completely unnecessary unless you are showing off a lot.
You're right about the requirement for fwd. When I got my first fwd car (a '78 Ford Fiesta) I wasn't paying close enough attention and the front tires wore out in no time, leaving the rear tires with lots of tread. Those were simpler days and I just replaced the front tires - and started rotating them religiously.
My recent BMW 528i (rwd of course) never had its tires rotated at all (as BMW advised) and yet the wear was reasonably symmetrical.
Seems like bringing the rears up on the same side & crossing the fronts to the opposite rear works the best. On our Ford E-series vans, weird wear would start appearing on the fronts if they weren't rotated, & the same wear on the rears if the tires were never swapped directionally. Of course, that's out the window with directional tires & different size front & rear. Seems like the straight "X" cross rotation can cause some steering vibration until the fronts start to settle in from being reversed. Of course, I have co-workers who never rotate anything, and bounce down the road like they're on rumble strips!
I'd counter that it depends a lot on the roads. They're pretty twisty here and on RWD vehicles I still have to rotate the front to rear to mitigate edge wear... and yes the vehicles had proper alignment, suspension in good shape.
Here is a different view on tire rotation. In the last 20 years or so I have had at least four occasions where I asked for a rotation and it was not done. It started with me knowing that I had a rash on a particular wheel and I knew the location of that wheel. When the car is ready, I notice that the wheel is in the same position. Hmmm..... I noticed the same thing with other cars of mine. Of course I did receive actual rotations on some occasions. But I started marking the wheels. I would hide a tiny piece of masking tape on two wheels (both front or both back). Just a few weeks ago my Kia dealer failed to rotate my tires when I had requested it be done. I went back in and got my $20 back and went to the place where I bought the tires and got them rotated for free. The wheels were still marked so I know that they were actually rotated. (I had been at the Kia dealer for a state inspection, that's the only reason I wanted them to rotate the tires. I was already there.)
As I said, this has happened to me a few times now. I think it happens because the tech knows that 95% of the folks won't know that the rotation wasn't done and they can get paid for the quarter hour (or whatever) and not have to do the work.
So take this as maybe a warning that your tires may not always be rotated as you expected them to be, regardless of pattern.
One more thing: these failures to rotate were not all at the same business. Different tire places or dealers where I used to live and where I live now.
As I said, this has happened to me a few times now. I think it happens because the tech knows that 95% of the folks won't know that the rotation wasn't done and they can get paid for the quarter hour (or whatever) and not have to do the work.
So take this as maybe a warning that your tires may not always be rotated as you expected them to be, regardless of pattern.
One more thing: these failures to rotate were not all at the same business. Different tire places or dealers where I used to live and where I live now.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
I was taught once the front wheel drives arrived on the streets, front to back or back to front only. No crossing. Been doing that now since the 90s.
Yeap, directional winter tires on both cars so back to front only. I do it same way with non-directional summer tires on both cars and never had wear or other issues.
T
hanks... After over 30 years of doing same side rotation with no issues I will continue that with my 2021 Honda HRV Sport AWD..
